East

Locally spelled อาร์ท in TH Thailand.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Attested across 12 languages in the etymology graph.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against East, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Asia
• Africa
• China
• North
• South

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

East is also recorded as another name, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Italian name6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Italy, Panama, Mexico, Spain

  Languages: Italian, Spanish

  Also written Ěast, Ệắṧṱ, Eäst

61 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

East is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, from the east; first attested Ralph del Est 1196–1237 Colch (Essex)

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In English, the eastern part of a town or settlement, or outside it to the east, or regional name for one who had migrated westwards (and hence was regarded as coming from the east; cf.

  as a name·The Oxford Names Companion - The definitive guide to Surnames, First Names, and Place Names of the British Isles

• In English, The direction of the earth's rotation, specifically 90°.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, ko; eastern region ko yaka yé yama

  as a word·Vocabulary of the Mende Language

• In German, Howden I. Vars.: Eng.; Halbrook see Holbrook Vars.: Halls; Hallman. Ger.: Halle(r) (see also Heller); Hal(l)mann. Swed.; Hallen, Hallin, Hallman Malden, Haldin, Hallding, Holdane. Dims.: Fr.:

  as a name·The Oxford Names Companion - The definitive guide to Surnames, First Names, and Place Names of the British Isles

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Nathan Eastb. 1955USAmerican jazz, R&B and rock bassist, guitarist and singer (born 1955)
• Shawn Johnson Eastb. 1992USAmerican artistic gymnast (born 1992)
• Chloe Eastb. 2001USAmerican actress and dancer (born 2001)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

30 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 16 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

What does the name East mean, and where does it come from?

person living in the eastern part of a place, to the east of a place, or coming from the east. Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].

Which countries have the most people named East?

In the Netherlands, the national register counted about 13 thousand people named Aart, more than in any other country we hold. After it come India, Thailand, United States and Brazil; the country table on this page ranks them.

How common is the name East?

In the Netherlands, the national register counted 13,041 people named Aart, about 1 in 1.3 thousand residents.